Armin A. Preiksaitis & Associates Ltd., in association with Gibbs & Brown Landscape Architects, produced a Strategic Plan to guide new development and attract investment to the downtown area.

Prince Albert is the province's third largest city and a regional service centre for 150,000 people in central and northern Saskatchewan. Significant downtown strengths include the attractive North Saskatchewan River valley and a rich supply of historic buildings.

The planning process began with focus groups and an inventory of local issues, opportunities and resources. Next, we identified a shared vision for the downtown to the year 2020 in stakeholder workshops.

To establish a unique visual identity for the Plan and associated downtown initiatives, a logo was created for the client to use on communication pieces.

The future prosperity of the downtown is closely tied to growth in the region. The Plan recommended an incremental approach of smaller-scale projects to revitalize the historic downtown. Capitalizing on the community's existing strengths was key.

The Strategic Plan contained 13 recommendations that identified initiatives in the following areas:

New investment opportunities and incentive programs

Social and culture initiatives

Urban design, architectural and landscape controls

Marketing processes

Budget recommendations

Plan monitoring / updating

We recommended design guidelines to promote an attractive setting that would attract development and enhance the destination appeal of downtown. Additionally, we identified five unique districts within the downtown area and developed land use guidelines and concept drawings for each.

Client: City of Prince Albert and Prince Albert Community FuturesCompletion Date: February 2003